


Truth and Mischief

by The_Hinky_Panda



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-14
Updated: 2017-12-16
Packaged: 2019-02-14 13:53:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13009224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Hinky_Panda/pseuds/The_Hinky_Panda
Summary: After Ragnorak, the Asgardians settle in Norway. However, when word reaches Thor that there is someone in San Francisco who is the Goddess of Truth and Doorways, he tries to convince her to help them find a new home. It is Loki though, with his silver tongue, that has the best chance of convincing her to join them. His challenge: she can see through illusion and deceit.





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Her hand was formed to hold a sword. 

Her eyes were fashioned to see into worlds beyond her own. 

Her mind and soul were designed to separate truth from deceit. 

Syn, Goddess of truth and justice. And, oddly enough, doorways. 

Her home is lost to her, twice over now. Banished as a child for a secret that was not hers in the first place. Now, word has reached her in Northern California, that Ragnorak has occurred. 

Prophecies come true and it makes the world scarier than it already is. 

She shoulders her equipment and heads into the abandoned hotel for a night of work. 

***  
They land on Earth eventually. 

They return to the land that once worshiped them as deities. 

Norway welcomes them, even Loki. 

He breathes for the first time in his life given this new start. No more petty plays that wrap constraints around his heart. They are only so many Asgardians left. They can not take the opportunity to cast anyone out at this point. 

The end gives him a new beginning. He wonders how long it will be until they grow large and strong enough to not need him in their meager ranks. 

Heimdall tells them there are scattered Asgardians on the earth and they should send out diplomats to find them. Thor agrees. In one week, twenty more join them on the plains of Norway.

Loki knows the countdown on his redemption has begun. 

***  
It’s three in the morning. The witching hour. The time when the veil between worlds is the thinnest. 

Everything is weakest in the morning. 

She watches her EVP meter as static rises and falls. Words blip up on the screen, random and disjointed. 

Fear. 

Fire. 

Blood. 

Just another day of paranormal investigation with the stereotypical outcomes. Even the ghosts are laughing at her. 

She’s about to pack it in for the shift when the meters start jumping on all the equipment. It’s not the first surge she has seen, but it is certainly the most intense. The hairs on her arms stand up. With shaky hands, she reaches for the headphones connected to the EVP and places one against her ear. The static rings through her skull but when she focuses on the tones under the static, she can hear the words. 

Come home. 

A frown draws her lips down. It is another common phrase used by ghosts. She starts to put the headphones down when she hears the voice again, loud enough to rattle the broken windows in the hotel. 

COME HOME, SYN.

She overbalances on the chair she was sitting and trips over a bag as she flees the building. She will come back in the daylight to retrieve her things. The most important thing is to put as much distance between her and the King who ordered her banishment. 

If a murdered showgirl couldn’t rest in the afterlife, why should Odin, King of Asgard? 

She returns to her one room apartment in San Francisco, sweaty and shaken. She pours herself a drink, spilling more on the counter then in the glass. She cowers in the corner of the kitchen from things unseen and unknown. 

How can she go home when one no longer exists? 

***  
Frigga haunts his dreams. 

Odin haunts Thor, and Loki is thankful for that. However, seeing his mother’s disappointed eyes wounds him far deeper than Odin’s venomous words. 

They both punish him from the other side, though. Odin with his silence and Frigga with her shame. 

They have found three more families that wish to join them in Norway. The clock is running down. Thor beams at him from across the aisle of the quinn jet, triumphant as their numbers grow. He musters a smile in return. 

He is the God of Lies after all. 

Heimdall tells them of a girl in San Francisco who is more than just an Asgardian. She is a goddess and gatekeeper both. She is the true wielder of Hofund, the sword that unlocks worlds. He shockingly admits he was only a placeholder for her. But the time has come for her to take up the sword at least. 

Thor is convinced that Asgard may rise from the ashes. 

Loki leans back in his chair and closes his eyes. 

He knows the end is nigh for certain; his own personal Ragnorak. 

***  
The phone is ringing incessantly, and no matter how many times she answers, it continues to ring. 

Then she realizes that someone is knocking at the door. 

She’s forgotten how awful hangovers truly are. 

She opens the door, knowing her hair and the brain underneath it, are a mess. Her tongue is fuzzy, her stomach riotous. There is a large man with an eye patch standing in the dank hallway. He looks entirely too happy and she wonders if she can vomit on command on his shoes.

“Sydney Monahan?” 

There’s a resonance between Asgardians, a type of homing signal that allows them to find each other. It’s been almost a century since she’s heard the song of their ancestors. 

The desire to slam the door shut in his face is extremely strong but her arms refuse to complete the motion. Instead, she sways against the open door and notices the tall, thin man lurking in the shadows behind the speaker. Her odd gift decides to kick in at that moment and all she can see are the lies that he wears like armor. 

“Asgard is gone.” It is always best to start with the truth. She laughs bitterly at the thought. 

The tall one with an eye patch states, “Asgard isn’t a place. It’s a people.” 

She weighs his words and finds no deceit in them. In fact, there is very little deceit in him. Tears prick the back of her eyes. “I’m not…” She’s unsure how to finish that, there are so many options and she is lost in the sea of choices.

***  
Loki is lost when the door opens. 

Illusion is his forte and he can tell when people are attempting to use it. He can also tell when someone has made no attempt to hide themselves at all. The woman who answers the door, with her riotous white blonde hair and transparent green eyes, hides behind no pretense. She is upright and honest in a way that makes his skin crawl. 

Her bloodshot eyes lock with his for a moment and he feels stripped down to exactly what he is: a scared refugee on borrowed time. It feels like a mortal blow and he wishes to make her feel the same as he does in that moment. He wants to frighten her, but when Thor moves towards her, he fights to urge to stand between them. The conflict causes his heart to race. His mind works frantically as he processes the desire to harm and protect at the same time. 

His decision falls to harm, by default. Protect until the time comes to harm to be exact. The God of Mischief would not be shown up by this child, Goddess of Truth or not. 

He could break her. 

He would break her. 

He follows Thor across the threshold of the apartment and purposefully makes eye contact. Tears are already glassing over the bright green of her iris and he sees she’s already broken. 

Confusion sets his pace as he comes to stand by a window. He wonders what is there to do with her now?


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Thor reminds her of an overly-exuberant Golden Retriever puppy. He is full of energy, so much so it practically crackles around him. His hopefulness is boundless. Despite the wounds she can see, a lost eye, and the wounds that are less visible, he seems to not notice the lingering effects of the pain. His focus is on his people, their new home. 

She is more of a cat person. 

This is why, as Thor attempts to regale her of the circumstances that brought the meager group of Asgardians to Earth, her focus is drawn to the silent figure staring out the window in the kitchen. She knows precisely who he is despite the lack of introduction. He is Asgardian by choice, first Odin’s and now, she notices, his own. His truth is so complicated with twists and snarls that it remains hidden from him. Anger and bitterness have built a suit of armor around him, have sealed him into that destructive mindset of hurt others before they hurt you. 

She understands that way of life. 

“We need you.” 

Her thoughts had been consumed with Loki, she has failed to keep up with what Thor had been saying. Unfortunately, she couldn’t lie her way out of the conversation. “Why?” 

He gives her a smile that reaches his eyes and shows nothing but hope. “You’re the true owner of the sword that opens the Bifrost. We may be able to open a new realm for Asgard. And who better to guard the gate then someone who has the gift of seeing deceit?” He nods with absolute certainty. “Your people need you.” 

“My people? The people who cast me out of their realm for hundreds of years?” She stands. “My people are those here on Midgard. See yourselves out.” 

Finally, the puppy’s excitement fades. 

***

Loki is relieved when they leave the rathole apartment in San Francisco and believes the whole ordeal over. He should know his brother better by now. 

Thor is stubborn and simple with his logic.

Syn is a way home. She is an Asgardian. She is a Goddess. She must come with them. 

Loki suggests, with more than a hint of malice, kidnapping the little doorkeeper. 

Thor, of course, disagrees with that course of action. 

He’s not sure where the idea blooms from but Loki offers to stay in California. He loosens his silver tongue, spouting out reasons for why he would be the best one to convince her to join their ranks in Norway. It works, not to Loki’s surprise, and soon he is left on his own in San Francisco. She may be a broken-down Goddess but there is more than one way to break someone. Not to mention he no longer had big brother peering over his shoulder and weighing his every movement for betrayal. 

This was going to be fun. 

***

She’s too anxious to sleep now. The visit has left her with the feeling of lightening underneath her skin. 

She cleans the small living space within two hours. The sun won’t go down for another eight. She gathers her notebooks and equipment, and walks almost ten blocks to her favorite coffee house. She orders a chai tea and stakes claim to a table in the corner. She has just started reviewing the EVPs when someone takes the seat across from her. 

“What the hell is that?” 

She doesn’t look up from her notebook. “So, you can talk.” 

“Indeed.” 

She casts a quick glance at Loki, blade thin and all sharp angles. Instinctively, she reaches out with her gift and finds his armor even thicker than before with more subterfuge and deceit. “Where’s Big Bro?” 

He brushes a piece of lint off his wool coat. “Back to Norway.” 

It is the truth. “And here you are, staying behind and sacrificing time and energy on convincing me to go join my people.” 

“I have been very persuasive in the past.” 

Also, the truth. She closes the notebook. “I was reviewing electronic voice phenomena that I captured at an abandoned hotel last night.” 

He gives her a slightly confused look. “What?” 

“You asked me what this was. I answered. Here’s a question for you. What is the real reason for you staying behind?” 

“Asgard is gone. We need as much help as we can gather to rebuild. It would give me great honor to have a goddess such as yourself to join me in the endeavor.” 

It’s half of the truth. Two college girls at the table next to them both “awed” in unison. Loki flashed them a bright smile while Syd rolled her eyes. One of the girls hands Loki her phone number, claiming he can call her a goddess anytime he wants. At least he has the manners to wait until she leaves to flick the paper into nothingness. 

“Are you coming to Norway?” he asks bluntly. 

“No.” 

He nods and stands. “Well, I suppose I have some time to explore the West Coast while you change your mind.” 

“It’s not going to happen.” 

“We’ll see,” he smiles slyly. “I’ve convinced harder hearts to see my way of things.” 

It was the truth. 

***

He grinds his teeth for three blocks. 

How dare she outright say no and with such confidence. 

Perhaps she wasn’t as broken as he thought. 

Still, he has a job to do and he was never one to shrink from a challenge. He pulls out the small daily planner that he swiped from her canvas bag under the table and turns to the current day. She had an appointment marked for an eight o’clock meeting at the Queen Anne Hotel. 

He needs a place to stay anyway and decides the unique building, with its turrets and bay windows, is as good a choice as any. The lobby is stately and he wonders idly what Sydney has planned for this particular place. There is no bar or restaurant in the lobby, however they do offer afternoon tea or sherry. He takes to offered alcohol and starts chatting up the brunette girl at the reception desk. He learns the history of the hotel and the draw that it holds for the customers.   
It’s one of the most haunted hotels in the city. 

He smiles slyly at Linda. “You wouldn’t happen to know a Sydney Monahan, would you?” 

“Syd? Oh yeah,” Linda responds lightly. “She comes in here quite a bit to do her ghost hunting thing. Are you one of her paranormal pals?” 

“I am hoping to be. There’s so much of the paranormal world I wish to see and understand. She’s offered to take me on one of her adventures.”

“Well, tonight’s your lucky night! She’s coming in to camp out in the Miss Mary Lake room on the fourth floor.”

He put on his best surprised look and laughed. “She is? What are the odds?”

“I know, right?!” 

“Is there any way you could let me into this particular room so that I can surprise her?” 

Linda bit her lower lip and wavered. “I don’t know. She’s never mentioned a tall, dark, and handsome partner in crime.” 

“I understand.” Loki pulled out the day planner. “Since I’m not sure when she’ll be arriving and I would hate to miss returning this to her. I’m afraid I accidentally picked it up when I left our lunch date.” 

Linda handed the planner back to him. “You know what, I think I can sneak you in. Just don’t tell my manager.” 

“Mums the word.”


End file.
